Old Ship belfry, steeple, roof need repair

Thursday

May 3, 2007 at 12:01 AMMay 3, 2007 at 3:17 AM

The Meeting House on the hill, known fondly as Old Ship, has been at anchor in Hingham for no less than 325 years, thanks to the ministrations of its many congregations and to a phalanx of devoted friends.

Connie Gorfinkle

The Meeting House on the hill, known fondly as Old Ship, has been at anchor in Hingham for no less than 325 years, thanks to the ministrations of its many congregations and to a phalanx of devoted friends.

That’s rather amazing, considering that First Parish — its legal name — is the last out of the roughly 200 New England meeting houses known to have been built between 1629 and 1700. But loving maintenance supported by the entire community of Hingham has allowed the handsome gothic structure to persevere, from 1681 — the year it was built by local farmers out of trees (then) 600 years old — to the present.

As those farmers did then, every once in a while the townspeople must come together again for the sake of Old Ship, a registered National Landmark that has the distinction of being the oldest wooden house of worship in the United States still in continuous use. But that is not the reason a fundraising effort is being launched to preserve this precious icon. It is because Old Ship is of profound historical importance, to the country, the state and the town of Hingham.

While one of its purposes was religious, the building also was intended to be the seat of government. Because at that time — more than a century before the colonies declared themselves a sovereign nation — a settlement couldn’t be incorporated as a town until a man of the cloth showed up who would be both religious and civic leader of the community.

In Hingham, that was Peter Hobart, who, in 1635, gathered his new congregants in a rough-hewn building on lower Main Street, that 46 years later — due to the need for more space — would be replaced a short distance away by the grander Old Ship.

Both buildings were designated meeting houses rather than churches because the gatherings there were both civic and religious. On weekdays, discussions would be held regarding town issues and, on Sundays, sermons would be delivered regarding issues of the soul.

Obviously, at that time, there was no concern over the separation of church and state. Nor was there a need for it, since the early settlers practiced only one religion and for the most part had only one world view.

That, of course, is not the case today. We practice many religions, or none, and what those dictates might be cannot be allowed to control our civic concerns.

Indeed, much has changed for Old Ship. From being a dual-purpose building, the Meeting House today is only used for ecclesiastical purposes. Its parishioners too are very different, having traveled far from their Puritan roots to being Unitarian-Universalists who describe themselves as “a welcoming congregation,” open to all people of all backgrounds and lifestyles.

But if town business no longer is conducted under its soaring rafters, Old Ship is as vital a part of the community as it ever was.

“Whenever we have visitors, I always take them to see Old Ship,” says Kate Mahony, who attends another church in town, but embraces Old Ship for the simple reason that “it belongs to everyone.”

Indeed, many in town of other faiths flock there on such important occasions as Thanksgiving Eve, Christmas Eve and Lincoln’s birthday.

With Mahony so devoted to the building it is not surprising that when her term as Hingham selectman ended in ‘91 she enthusiastically accepted an invitation to become a trustee of The Friends of the Old Ship Meeting House, a non-sectarian, tax-exempt charitable trust formed in 1971 to raise funds from the entire community for the preservation of this beloved antique.

Town leaders, most of whom are not members of Old Ship, the trustees take their responsibilities regarding the Meeting House very seriously, launching major fund raisers from time to time and maintaining the trust through careful and informed investing.

In the 36 years it has been in existence, the Friends, says Mahony, has funded about two dozen projects for the building. Those include painting the exterior, installing an alarm system, building a handicap ramp and entranceway steps, as well as providing a new boiler and sprinkler system. The more than $170,000 these improvements cost came largely from townspeople who realized the importance of Old Ship.

In the past, maintenance problems were obvious: exterior paint was peeling, brick steps were crumbling. But more and more it’s becoming necessary to anticipate problems rather than react to them. That’s why the Friends were gratified when Hingham adopted the Community Preservation Act, which allows towns and cities to make grants to various institutions for the purpose of maintaining valuable historical sites and protecting open spaces.

Because the Friends was a separate entity from the church, it was able to apply for a CPA grant, which when it was awarded made possible a historic structure report, recently completed, that describes what actions must be taken to continue to preserve the ancient building.

Performed by a team of conservation experts using state-of-the-art forensic techniques, the study reveals more than Old Ship’s structural problems. Most exciting of their finds is a pair of doors that were hidden behind siding 251 years ago, making them probably the oldest outside doors in this country discovered in situ.

The revelation of the doors and many other hitherto unknown architectural details of the building have made it that much more vital to protect this precious artifact of early America. (On May 20, the Friends will present a bound copy of the historic structure report to Dennis Corcoran, director of Hingham Public Library, where it will be available for all to learn for themselves the value of this local treasure.)

Armed with the report — now a prerequisite for historical preservation grant applications — the Friends is embarking on a fund-raising campaign to tackle Old Ship’s most immediate problem: its deteriorating roof, belfry and steeple.

The goal is to raise enough money to qualify for a $100,000 matching fund grant from the Massachusetts Historical Commission Preservation Fund. To achieve that goal, letters shortly will be mailed out to all of Hingham asking for donations.

Mahony has no doubt the town will rise to the occasion, as it did in 1991, the last time the Friends made such an appeal.

After all, she reasons, who can imagine Hingham without its Meeting House on the hill to remind us all of this country’s beginnings and who we are today as Americans?